Sunday, April 28, 2013

REVIEW: Anglotopia's Dictionary of British English

Even for the most dedicated Anglophile out there, navigating the British lexicon with any degree of dignity can often be a rather difficult task. With words like codswallop, higgledy-piggledy and plonker contributing to the British vernacular, it is not surprising that certain words and expressions get lost in the Pond.

However, thanks to a splendid new book by editor of Anglotopia Jonathan Thomas, the whole subject has become considerably more clear.Anglotopia's Dictionary of British English is a finely researched reference guide for all of those words that are uniquely British.

Alphabetically arranged with hundreds of entries, Anglotopia's fourth print publication lays out some of Britain's most idiosyncratic lexical variations and, where appropriate, offers simple, Americanized definitions for the benefit of the book's target audience.

Ever wanted to learn all of the British insults(because wanker, git and knob head are never enough)? Or what about those pesky food-related words or everyday verbs, nouns and adjectives?Perhaps you just want to brush up on your Anglo sex phrases. Whatever takes your fancy, it's all in this book.

And just because the English language varies from county to county (and country to country), the author reserves the latter half of the book for regional variations - including London slang, Cockney, Scottish, West Country, Yorkshire, Scouse, and Australian English. Additionally - and hilariously - the book includes a list of British insults and a surprisingly extensive overview of amusing British place names. Having once lived not considerably far from Spital-In-The-Street, I very much appreciate the latter's inclusion.

So if you're a Whovian, a Harry Potter fanatic, or a Downton Abbey addict, and want to gain further understanding of certain, unfamiliar words that occasionally jump out of the dialogue, you could do far worse than to buy yourself a copy of this book.

2 comments:

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